Saturday, December 19, 2009

On Wednesday I posted photos of a prototype snow scene that I was going to make for Christmas presents this year.

Here is how I made it.

Gather your ingredients.
- foam (I reused foam I had from packaging)
- pins
- ribbon
- fray check for ribbon
- apothecary jar (the one I posted on Wed was from Hobby Lobby and the one in this tutorial is from Michaels)
- micro beans for bean bag. (I cut open a pillow I had no use for anymore. I bought the pillow at Target many years ago. I did find a bag of them at Hobby Lobby though, but free was better. I love being thrifty.)

First I made all of the polymer clay pins. (That is another tutorial for another day, sorry)Then I cut the foam to fit the bottom of the jar. I hot glued it to the bottom so when you position the pins it doesn't lift up if you lift the pins up. Try and not have it touch the sides because you will see it, but with the size jar I am using here it touched in a couple spots...no one is going to notice but me.

Then fill around the foam with the micro beads.Then position your pins in the foam the way you would like and add ribbon to the top of the jar. It tried adding the pins first before the micro foam and the foam stuck to the pins. Don't forget to fray check (or nail polish) the ends of the ribbon so it doesn't fray.

Wallah. You have a pretty little gift. So the possibilities are endless for this little gift. You can use colored sugar or salt instead of foam beads for a different look. I am thinking pink sugar and a cupcake cottage scene for Valentines Day...

Who would like a set of pins and a small baggy with some micro foam beads to make one for themselves? You are in luck, I am going to give away my prototype set of 3 pins, seen here, and a small baggy of micro beads so you can do just that. (Please note: You have to provide your own apothecary jar, ribbon, foam...and more foam beads if you are doing a larger jar)

To Enter:

Leave me a comment below to enter telling me what your favorite item in my shop or my sold section.

my favorite would probably be your princesses but that was influenced by my 3 year old nearly swooning when she saw them...i love your work - probably my favorite polymer artist ever! i dabbled with it years ago(ok over a decade) and was never able to get cuteness so i gave up...i come here each week to get my fix of cuteness!

Ooohh! I love this! great idea! also, I love your unicorn (how do you get the little ringlets of hair?!) and Fredrick the owl is also a personal favorite. It has taken a lot of discipline to not convince myself that I need him for a necklace or ornament ;)I am trying to do polymer clay characters too and I really enjoy looking at your wonderful creations for inspiration!Any tips or tricks of the trade?